He was still on the Jaguars' island on a rainy and windy Monday, when they conducted the first of 12 offseason organized team activities.

During the offseason, Hayward watched the departure of several veterans, including Fred Taylor, Mike Peterson and Paul Spicer and wondered if he'd be departing, too.

Asked if he was nervous as veterans were traded or released, Hayward said, "Yes. You get nervous when some of the older big dogs are deciding to vacate. You start looking round the room. You are on deck."

Hayward, 30, wanted to stay in Jacksonville and was happy his phone didn't ring in the offseason.

For him, no news was good news. He didn't get a call telling him his services were no longer needed. And he wasn't asked to take a cut in his $5 million salary.

"We haven't had any discussions about anything like that," he said. "It's a good thing that nothing has arisen yet. I enjoy playing football here. But this is a business, so sometimes those situations do come up. Hopefully, they won't, but we will cross that bridge when it comes up."

Hayward said when he was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the third round in 2001, the veterans warned him that if he played long enough, he would eventually get cut.

"It's part of the game," he said. "I'm just trying to keep it off a few more years."

The Jaguars signed Hayward to a five-year, $25 million free-agent deal in 2005, and he paid immediate dividends as he collected 81/2 sacks after getting 101/2 in his final year in Denver.

"I was at the top of my game,'' he said.

Then he tore an Achilles tendon in the 2006 opener, and it's been a long road back. He missed the final 15 games in 2006 and had a total of eight sacks the past two years.

"I think he's worked hard at getting and fighting his way back and putting himself in position to help. And now we'll let him compete," Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio said.

Del Rio hopes Hayward will be what he calls one of the core (veteran) players on the team.

But, Del Rio added, "We've got some young guys who are chasing after him [Hayward] now. [Derrick] Harvey wants to play. [Jeremy] Mincey wants to play. [James] Wyche, coming off an injury, he wants to play. We've got some young guys that are chomping at the bit that he's got to fend off. But veterans understand that. That's always the challenge. When you're a veteran in this league, there are always going to be young guys chomping at the bit to get into your spot and get your time."

Harvey, the Jaguars' first-round pick last year, is likely to start at one of the defensive end spots.

Hayward is fighting for the other.

Hayward seems ready for the challenge. He changed his diet after discovering he has a food sensitivity issue - cutting out about 35 items.

"Chicken, bread and cheese, those are the toughest,'' he said.

Hayward said the entire team needs to recapture the focus it had in 2007, when it went 11-5 before slumping to 5-11 last year.

"I think we had some distractions," he said.

Still, Hayward is puzzled why the team didn't play better.

"Our big-time players didn't make enough big-time plays," he said. "Who knows [why]? I think that is why people still wonder and talk about last year because we had the nucleus of players and the same coaches. But why didn't we have the same success?

"Nobody can really answer it. We didn't make the plays we needed to make."